Australian Convicts

Although the first fleet arrived in Australia in 1788 convicts were still being sent to Australia in the early nineteenth century. It is estimated around 162, 000 convicts had arrived in Australia during this time. The majority of convicts were men with female covicts making up roughly 20% of the final total. These were convicts were transported on 806 ships. The last convict ship arrived in Australia in 1868.

Can you identify what factors influenced the settlement of the convicts in the early nineteenth century?

Who were the convicts?During the settlement of Australia convicts were people from various countries, mainly Ireland and England, who had comittied a crime. These crimes were anything from murder to something as simple as stealing a loaf of bread.